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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Memorial Weekend Cupcakes- Marshmallow Frosting




This weekend was bitter sweet. We said goodbye to a dear FRIEND we had made over the year. She was here working on another Masters degree- from the Ukraine and while we are sad to see her go, we rejoice in knowing that she will soon be home with her family and friends in the Ukraine and thankful to God that we crossed paths. 


Olya, you are a blessing sweetie-
may God continue to move in your life!

Yesterday our town had its "Memory Days Parade"... It was hilarious {and that is all I'm gonna say about that!}. After that we went to the lake with Olya and another friend Sarah, for fishing and just to enjoy the sun that has finally come out {yay}.


So for dinner I made a Peruvian dish, Lomo Saltado, for our family and friends. It was a sort of "farewell dinner"... followed by white cupcakes topped with MARSHMALLOW FROSTING {recipe to follow}. It took all of ten minutes to make the frosting, and that is stretching it...

Don't they look yummy?! 



Marshmallow Frosting

3/4/ cup butter, softened at room temp
2 cups of confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow fluff/ creme

Beat butter in a large bowl, until fluffy.
Beat in the confectioners' sugar,  milk, and vanilla extract, until smooth.
Beat in marshmallow fluff until light and fluffy.
*Beat in coloring, if desired.

Spoon into pastry bag with desired tip and top cupcakes, add sprinkles, and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!


Well, I am off to WATCH another episode of Band of Brothers, work on my mini GARDEN, and PAINT a canvas for a project I am working on for our lil man... 

Happy Memorial Weekend & God Bless!





Thursday, May 26, 2011

Yet Another Lego Party

Well lil man had his Lego inspired party this past Saturday. I scowerd the internet looking for ideas and came across a few that I just have to share.



First off I purchased Living Locurto's Lego themed printable package. It was a good deal; personalized and I can reuse it for any other parties I throw! 


Then I went to Amazon and ordered a Lego brick ice cube tray LIKE THIS and Lego blocks stackable candies {they tasted like sweet tarts}!

With the ice cube tray, of course I made ice cubes... but I also made chocolate LEGO CANDY BARS and used the napkin holder printable {from the Lego pkg  I mentioned before} and used them to wrap the candies. For the stackable lego candies, I used mini treat bags from Hobby Lobby {best store ever} topped with candy labels I created for party favors.


I also made LEGO MARSHMALLOW POP-HEADS... found HERE. I did  not use regular flavored marshmallows, I used the vanilla/caramel ones. And instead of drawing the faces myself, I set up a table with food markers for the kids to draw there own- then wrap them up to go in their favor bags!
{I had them put together their own favor bags and threw in a minifigure Lego kit}

LEGO WAFER BLOCKS were made with store bought PB chocolate covered wafers. I put drops of frosting on them and then used m&ms to make the Lego tops. Cute, easy, and fun! 


Instead of a cake, I made CUPCAKES using my baker friend's {Becks} recipes. A couple months ago I asked for her to play around with a strawberry cupcake/ cake recipe for me that used real strawberries and that didn't use jello like the ones I kept finding. I would have totally had her make them, but she lives states away so she guided me along. In April I made them for a girl's night out party {as a test run}...



Anyways I made {from scratch} CHOCOLATE, VANILLA, and STRAWBERRY cupcakes. Then I thought I would make my own version of NEAPOLITAN CUPCAKES using the left over batter {and that there was plenty}!

neo cupcake w/ orange icing...
the chocolate ran up through it and man was it yummy!
For the Neo cupcakes I layered them by density... Chocolate on the bottom, then the strawberry, and then the vanilla. THEY WERE SOOOO YUMMY! I topped all the cupcakes with BUTTERCREAM ICING that I also had colored orange & sky blue using Wilton gels. I left some white and then I sprayed some of the white ones yellow {like lego heads} using Wilton's food color spray.|



I purchased a $5 paper cupcake holder by Wilton and decorated it myself {and I am able to reuse it too}. It held 24 cupcakes, and the rest went on a mock Lego box.



I was going to make the PIÑATA but time eluded me, so off the hubbs went to get a festive Mexican made one down the street. :D
The last thing I wanted to share was the LEGO BACKDROP I made for picture taking... I wrapped a TON of different sized boxes. From a huge flat screen box to lil wii remote boxes, I wrapped them up and stacked my blocks. This was fun for the kids to take pics in front of and mess around with.
All in all, we had a great birthday party. Lil man said it was his "bestest" EVER
Happy 5th to our youngest!


Thank you to my friends who helped me decorate & clean up.
And a thank you to all the talent out there offering inspiration for 
LEGO parties!

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Side funny pic... this is why I made cupcakes
it was yummy, and we had it at home on his b-day...
but it was NO Lego!
hahaha
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Before I go, I wanted to BRAG on another friend, Sarah. She's a classmate of mine, and a missionary. Anyways, she made this clever card for lil man's birthday {which now sits on my desk at work}.




Thanks for visiting!


(ps, please keep lil man in your prayers as he heals from another surgery... this one is gonna take longer than his tubes last month)




UPDATE: Lil man's surgery went well and he is healing up... though VERY VERY whinny! ;)

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Linked Up:



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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Toy Story Party


I am getting ready to celebrate my youngest... my last baby's 5th birthday in a couple of weeks. So while I plan and prep for his big birthday party I thought I'd share some of our past parties.

I decided to start with lil man's fourth birthday. Last year he wanted a TOY STORY party, mainly about Buzz Lightyear.

We were limited on budget {being college students} but I did manage to make a cute rocket ship pinata and some fun games to play!


A friend used my camera and well, while I was thankful I don't really have too many pics to work with... she took too many of her boyfriend and his son. lol :P

Ok, so I did not make the cake... I bought it {requested the packaged decor stay OFF the cake} and I bought a package of Toy Story toys to put on it... it worked!

We just put up a bunch of primary color decorations inside. Outside was for our bounce house {its ours, so its smaller}...

For the centerpieces I put various toys in the middle. First I started with the TS toys we had, but then I went ahead and did a Barbie table for the girls, a dino table, etc...  It was cute and the kids could play at the tables too.


One game we played was pin the tail on Bullseye! :D


 For more wall decor, I bought the reusable wall stickers of TS... they now reside in lil man's room and some even glow in the dark! {win win}


 Another game we played was a potato head match up... kinda like a race.



I used to be part of a mom's group and won a lot of potato heads and other toys... so we had a LOT of taters to play with! lol

And now to our ROCKET PINATA!!!


PINATA PASTE
Materials:
Flour  -1 part
Water - 5 parts
Saucepan
Spoon
Bowl
Stove top
Hand beater
Directions:
I used a cooking recipe for my glue...
4 parts water in saucepan, on the stove and bring to a boil
1 part flour to 1 part warm water , beat till lumps are gone
Once pot is boiling stir mixture into the pot and mix well
Boil for 2-3 minutes
It should be smooth and have a constancy of glue
If needed, add more water or flour in small amounts until you get the constancy you want

ROCKET PINATA
Materials:
Balloons {one rounded, two long shaped}
Poster Board
Painters Tape
Scissors
Newspaper Strips
Crepe paper or Tissue Paper {I used crepe for this one; in red, white, and blue}
Glue Gun & Hot Glue
Print out {I made a window sign}
Ribbons
5-50 cord {or a heavy duty cord/ rope}

Directions:
Ok, first I blew up the balloons...
Then I attached the two long ones end to end- tape helped
Then I blew up a med sized round balloon for the top and taped it with the other balloons
Then I took my strips of newspaper and dipped into the glue, used my fingers to take of extra... and then began wrapping the balloons
{I did this outside on a junk/ craft table so that the sun would aid in drying it and to keep the mess outdoors}
Do this until it is covered, 2-3 layers, drying in between
{remember you WANT the kids to be able to crack it open- haha}
Once hard, pop the balloons and remove them
I then took my poster board and rolled it around my long balloons to get an idea of what to cut off
I cut my poster board {you will use the extra pieces} and wrapped it around my long balloons and taped it into place
Make a cone top and tape on to the top
I then took my crepe paper and snipped the sides to make fringe {a bunch at a time}
Using my glue gun I worked from the bottom up {but not underneath yet}
Then I cut out wings from left over poster board and taped then on
I used more crepe paper to cover up the pinata
After I decorated it with crepe I fluffed it out
Then I stuck the goods in from underneath and taped the bottom back into place and covered it with red crepe and ribbons
I punched two holes through the rocket top to hang {not the cone}
and there you go!

It was fun to make and didn't take long... though it was not my first. :)

Well, I am off to dream of how I will be doing my son's pinata this year and all the other goodies I really want to do up this time around.